Khadija Kalifa reveals her heartbreak as she left children for two months to film Apprentice – and could only speak to them once a week

The 27-year-old has her sights set on Loose Women after winning over the public with her straight-talking

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Fay Strang

12 Dec 2018, 22:30

Updated: 13 Dec 2018, 10:19

Fay Strang

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KHADIJA Kalifa has revealed she couldn’t see her children for two months while she filmed the Apprentice.

The mumpreneur, who was given the boot this evening following the interview process, admitted she struggled with guilt as she could only speak to them once a week as she battled it out to win Lord Sugar’s investment.

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Khadija Kalifa didn't see her children for two months

Speaking to The Sun Online after being fired alongside Daniel and Sabrina, she said: “I was in there for a couple of months, which is difficult and my youngest was one when I went in, well almost two.

“So when I went into the house she was saying a few words and then I came out and she was saying full sentences and I was like ‘ah I’ve missed it all”.”

However Khadija, who runs a cleaning business, believes her hard work and absence will pay off.

She continued: “But now the fact that my four year old goes to school and the teachers are rooting for me and she goes ‘mummy, everyone knows you are on The Apprentice, everyone knows you are on TV’, so it was worth it.

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The business is a mum of two young girls

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She did well in the competition and made it to the final fiveCredit: BBC

“Hopefully I get an investment and the business will become as huge as I want it to be and my daughters will be made for life. So two months will be worth it. “

The Apprentice candidates were only allowed to make phone calls once again – and despite having two very young children the same rules applied from the 27-year-old.

But Khadija, who believes the process was harder for her than the other candidates because she was a mum, didn’t want to be treated differently.

“I never wanted to milk the fact that I had kids. If I really wanted to I could have been little Miss Diva like ‘I need extra calls’ but that is not me,” she told us.

“I knew what I had signed up to and I wasn’t about to get people to overcompensate. Also I I didn’t want it to be detrimental to me, there will be times in business when I might need to go away and I didn’t want Lord Sugar to think she has got two young kids she can’t cope. So I just focused.

“It was a lot harder for me, they were all really supportive. If I was having a bad day when I missed my kids and thought I should be with them, they were great but they didn’t really understand as much. It was hard for me.”

Meet The Apprentice 2018's Khadija Kalifa, the Mumpreneur with an eco cleaning company

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Looking to the future Khadija still hopes to expand her cleaning business and has started taking on commercial properties.

She is hoping to clean for Lord Sugar but also has her sights set on becoming a Loose Woman panellist.

She said: “I think I would make a great Loose Woman. I have got the children side so I could be quite frank about things like that and also for my age I think I have been through quite a lot and I am not afraid to say what I think and I think that is what I admire about the Loose Woman as well.”